Broadland District Council has been picked by English Heritage to be one of 19 local council areas to take part in a pilot project looking into whether to create a building at risk register for Grade II listed buildings.

Buildings listed at Grade I and Grade II* are already on English Heritage’s national building at risk register - those buildings considered at risk from decay, vandalism, misuse or collapse.

But those listed as Grade II are not and English Heritage hopes the pilot scheme areas will help them decide whether they should be included.

Broadland District Council’s scheme will be run by English Heritage, Broadland District Council and Ingham Pinnock Associates, and they want to recruit as many community groups and volunteers as possible to help.

The Buckinghamshire Arms pub, Blickling.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

Volunteers will be given building assessment training and an opportunity to attend lectures given by leading heritage professionals.

Owners of listed buildings affected by the pilot scheme will also be contacted with further information.

Shaun Vincent, Broadland District Council’s portfolio holder for planning, said; “This is a good opportunity for the council to identify buildings at risk and to offer advice to their owners.

“Broadland residents value the built heritage within the district and recognise the importance of it to the vitality of their communities.”

There are some 345,000 Grade II buildings in England, accounting for 92pc of all listed buildings.

Beautiful, historic or architecturally special, they are the houses, cottages, shops, inns, offices, schools, town halls, libraries, farms, mills and other distinguished buildings that shape the character of our cities, towns and villages.

Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said: “Grade II buildings are the bulk of the nation’s heritage treasury. When one of them is lost, it’s as though someone has rubbed out a bit of the past – something that made your street or your village special will have gone.

“345,000 is not a large number in relation to all the buildings in England but it is too many for English Heritage to survey on its own which is why we’re working with Broadland District Council and Ingham Pinnock Associates to help us know more about why these buildings are at risk and how we can rescue them.”

The Broadland pilot project covers the whole of the area of Broadland District Council, extending from Foulsham in the north west to Reedham in the south east of the district.

The project is due to be completed in early August 2013.

Kate Pinnock, from Ingham Pinnock Associates, said: “We are delighted to be working with Broadland District Council to undertake the pilot for English Heritage. This is a wonderful opportunity to identify heritage at risk and where possible, to help develop a strategy for their restoration.”

For further information on the pilot scheme or to register your interest in becoming a volunteer, contact Kate Pinnock on office@inghampinnock.com or Broadland Council on 01603 430569.

You can also visit the project Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BroadlandListedBuildingPilot or sign up to a newsletter available at www.inghampinnock.com

Here’s a handful of the Grade II listed buildings in Broadland - and what English Heritage says about them:

The Duel Stone, Holt Road, Cawston: A stone monument in the form of an urn on a square moulded pedestal. It commemorates the duel fought on August 20, 1668, between Sir Henry Hobart of Blickling Hall and Oliver le Neve of Great Witchingham Hall. Hobart was mortally wounded during the duel.

The Earle Arms, The Street, Heydon: Pub dating from the 18th century and later. Red brick, front elevation whitewashed. Pantiled roofs. Two storeys.

The Village Stocks, Haveringland Road, Haveringland: Stocks, dating from 1804, with a pair of oak posts with pyramidal finials. The posts are connected by a bottom oak rail, with a hinged top clamping plank, both with cut outs for heads, hands or feet.

St Andrews Hospital, Yarmouth Road, Thorpe St Andrew: Formerly known as Norfolk County Asylum. Also known as Thorpe Hospital. 1811-14, by Francis Stone, county surveyor. Additions 1816-49, probably by John Brown, county surveyor. Yellow brick, partly rendered on the south side, with ashlar and brick dressings and gabled and hipped slate roofs. H-plan, with central administrative block flanked by side ranges and cross wings, the major axis running east-west.